BT ditches Yahoo Mail following mass hack attack

[Arthur]

BT Yahoo is no more! Given Yahoo's poor security track record, I am surprised Sky migrated customers from GMail to Yahoo Mail last month.

 

Source: Ars Technica

 

BT, the UK-based telecommunications company with more than 18 million customers, is dumping Yahoo Mail following a successful hacking campaign that hijacked e-mail accounts and used them to send spam, according to published reports.

 

BT's plans come four months after Ars was among the first publications to report on the mass campaign. At the time, attackers were able to commandeer Yahoo Mail accounts because administrators had failed to apply an eight-month-old security patch in the WordPress content management system that powered one of its blogs. By including malicious JavaScript in innocuous-looking webpages, the attackers were able to exploit the vulnerability and seize control over Yahoo Mail accounts that happened to be open while the booby-trapped webpages were viewed.

 

In March, more than two months after Yahoo finally applied the WordPress fix, criminal spammers continued to hijack Yahoo Mail accounts, suggesting that other security holes remained.

 

A BT official on Thursday told The Telegraph that the telecom company would begin moving away from Yahoo within weeks. The new e-mail system will be hosted by California-based Critical Path and will include built-in spam and antivirus protections. The move should serve as a wakeup call to Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who took Yahoo's helm with a mandate to revive the ailing Web company. Staying on top of things like WordPress security patches may seem mundane and an interruption from more business-critical operations, but they're actually not. In fact, they're key to a company's success.

[XiJ]

Can't believe Sky moved from google to Yahoo / and don't offer imap.

 

So where's BT moving?

[XiJ]

Ah, read it properly now. So the ex google exec talked Sky into moving....

[Devontechie]

Can't believe Sky moved from google to Yahoo / and don't offer imap.

 

So where's BT moving?

 

I have got sky email setup using imap. I know they say that they don't offer imap but it works!

 

Will find the settings in abit and post them.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Devontechie

[XiJ]

Ah, that would be good. Tbh I have my own google Apps account - but the in-laws use Sky e-mail and imap was very handy. I haven't even looked into for them yet. I'll get brownie points if I give them a solution though

[Arthur]

I have got sky email setup using imap. I know they say that they don't offer imap but it works!

I think I read somewhere you could use imap.mail.yahoo.com for Sky Yahoo! Mail?

 

Edit. Or this...

 

[b]Incoming Mail Server[/b]: imap.tools.sky.com   (Port 995)
[b]Outgoing Mail Server[/b]: smtp.tools.sky.com   (Port 465)
[b]Username[/b]: (include  @sky.com)

Edited May 31, 2013 by Arthur

[Devontechie]

I think I read somewhere you could use imap.mail.yahoo.com for Sky Yahoo! Mail?

 

its something like imap.tools.sky.com - will find out when I turn my partners laptop on in abit..

[timbo343]

Thank god, when i saw this years ago alarms bells rang then.

[CAM]

This is the first I have heard of it as a BT customer...not good on BT's part!

[plexer]

Not good for BT to be moving from a shocking service like yahoo?

 

Ben

[CAM]

Not good that something this serious has happened and as one of their customers I haven't heard a peep!

[plexer]

Neither did we but tbh I ain't bothered as don't actually use their email.

 

Ben

[timbo343]

I wonder when users of BT will get informed. Do you think it will get to a point where users who download emails to outlook or a client their emails will stop working? No doubt bt will be in for a load of phone calls soon. Might need to tell everyone at our place to be prepared.

[rad]

As a BT customer I got an email to my preferred email account

 

My BT Help

 

Important changes to your BT email terms

 

Hello,

 

We're changing the terms and conditions for accessing the email that comes with your BT Broadband - BT Yahoo! Mail.

 

From 17 June this year, you'll need to log in to your email account at least once every 150 days. If you don't, we'll presume you don't use your email account anymore and we'll close it.

 

Read our new terms and conditions.

How to keep your BT email

Make sure you use your email at least once every 150 days by logging on at bt.yahoo.com, using your computer email software (like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird) or checking your email on your smartphone. If you don't, we'll close the account and delete everything that goes with it - including your emails, contacts, calendar and notes.

 

If you haven't used an account since 18 Jan or if you're not sure when you last logged in, just log in before 17 June and at least once every 150 days after.

 

If we do close your account, you can still use the email address to log in to BT Wi-fi or other BT services. You just won't be able to use it for email.

 

If you don't want to keep your BT email

That's fine. Just don't use it anymore. Then, from 17 June, we'll close any accounts that haven't been used for 150 days.

 

Make it easier for us to get in touch with you

The next time you log in to bt.com, make sure the email address you used for My BT is one you check regularly. If it isn't, change it to one you do.

 

Change your contact details now.

 

Need some help?

To find out more about these changes, go to bt.com/help/emailterms.

 

 

 

Thanks for choosing BT.

 

Warren Buckley

Managing Director, Customer Service

 

Please don't reply to this email - it's been automatically generated by our computer. If you need to get in touch, go to http://www.bt.com/contact

 

 

Log in | Contact us | Privacy policy

© British Telecommunications plc 2013.

We're registered in England at 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ (company number 1800000).

All this information was correct on the date we sent this email. See terms and conditions

Edited June 1, 2013 by rad

[ConradJones]

hmm, i never use the isp provided email i always use seperate ones. why would you want a sky gmail acount tied to your sky account when you can have a gmail account you can keep even if you changed isp?

[XiJ]

Yes - or at least use a domain name so it can be easily 'ported'

[Arthur]

why would you want a sky gmail account tied to your sky account when you can have a gmail account you can keep even if you changed ISP?

Most people aren't as informed as you are though.

[ConradJones]

@Arthur that made me laugh, i had to do a double take there i thought you linked back to the same thread for a minute

[Arthur]

Yahoo Starts Scanning E-mails

 

As of June 1 2013, all Yahoo e-mail users are required to upgrade to the company's newest platform, which allows Yahoo to scan and analyze every email they write or receive. According to Yahoo's help page, all users who make the transition agree to let the company perform "content scanning and analyzing of your communications content" to target ads, offer products, and perform "abuse protection."

 

This means any message that Yahoo's algorithms find disturbing could flag a user as a bully, a threat, or worse. At the same time, Yahoo can now openly troll through e-mail for personal information that it can share or hold onto indefinitely.

 

Gay and haven't come out yet? Yahoo knows. Having an affair? Your spouse may not know — but Yahoo does. Any interests, ailments or projects you'd rather not share? You're sharing them with Yahoo, perhaps forever.

 

The new tracking policy affects more than just Yahoo account holders. Everyone who corresponds with a Yahoo e-mail account holder will also have their own message content scanned, analyzed, and stored by Yahoo, even if they themselves have not agreed to Yahoo’s new terms of service.

[localzuk]

So, basically, they'll start doing what Google does then...

[CAM]

OK that's worrying. My BT E-Mail is not checked every 150 days because it is a fallback for catching mail from old accounts. I guess the big migration starts... :/

[localzuk]

My old yahoo account was somehow hacked a few weeks ago. Not logged into it for a good 6 months at least. But randomly someone from Brazil started spamming all my contacts in there. As I wouldn't want to delete my yahoo account (gotta keep the name...), I deleted all the emails and contacts there, and changed the password. So, if it happens again they can't do anything useful with it.

 

BT have made the right choice here, moving away from Yahoo. Their email service has been a mess for years now.

[Alkaline]

Sky don't close your account even if you leave. You just have to make sure you keep using it. Even o2 (soon to be Sky) who claimed e-mail accounts are closed 90 days after you leave don't seem to follow up on this threat. My old account is still active after two years.

[Harlquinth]

Sky don't close your account even if you leave. You just have to make sure you keep using it. Even o2 (soon to be Sky) who claimed e-mail accounts are closed 90 days after you leave don't seem to follow up on this threat. My old account is still active after two years.

 

Same with AOL as well - my parents still have their AOL email even though they left AOL at least 5-6 years ago.

 

Hq.